Jim Bomkamp

1.1.1.We saw that
Jesus was tried by a man named Pontius Pilate who was the Roman governor that
had been appointed over the land
of Palestine in Jesus’
day.We saw that Pontius Pilate is a man
who is known in history for only one thing and that is being the governor or
procurator over Judea at this time and being the man who approved the
crucifixion of Jesus Christ when Jesus was brought to him in a mock trial by
the religious leaders of Israel who simply wanted him to give approval for the
unjust crucifixion of Jesus, regardless of the fact that in doing so they were
violating every code of justice from their Law.

1.1.2.We saw
that Pontius Pilate served as governor from 26-36AD.Pilate lived in Caesarea and always
visited Jerusalem
during the Passover season in order to keep a watchful eye on the crowds there
since disturbances and insurrections by the Jews had often occurred during the
Passover. Pilate had probably been told of Jesus’ imminent arrest and to be on
hand early on this morning for a quick trial before the Passover.

1.1.3.We saw
that Pilate was a reluctant participant in the trial and condemnation of Jesus
to crucifixion.He was convinced of
Jesus’ innocence and had an opportunity to make a difference by doing the right
thing and dismissing the charges against Jesus, however instead he chose to act
instead according to pragmatic concerns and allow the Jews to crucify Jesus so
that he might not incur their disfavor.

1.1.4.We saw that in reality that it was Pilate who was on
trial this day.

1.1.5.We considered the far reaching effects that occur
whenever a person determines whether to stand for the Lord and for truth, or
not to do so.

1.1.6.We saw
that Pontius Pilate had the same choice in life that all of us have, namely,
what shall we do with Jesus Christ?Shall we accept Jesus and His claims and live our life in obedience to
Him, or shall we choose to reject Him.

1.2.In this
study, we are going to look at verses 1-22 of chapter 19.

1.2.1.M.S. Mills
in The Life Of Christ, writes the following about the history of using
crucifixion as a form of capital punishment, “The beginnings of crucifixion are
vague: it seems that the Phoenicians used to tie a criminal to a tree and leave
him to die of exposure. The tree afforded some protection against exposure, so
in order to hasten the process, stakes were substituted for trees. The Persians
apparently adopted this form of execution from the Phoenicians (as Ezra 6:11
may confirm), the Greeks copied the Persians, and the Romans, the Greeks, each
adding macabre ‘﻿refinements’ and making the process more excruciating
than the former, culminating in the atrocious, inhumane form of torture used by
the Romans. In recognition of its degrading nature, Roman law restricted
crucifixion to slaves and subjugated people and specifically excluded Roman
citizens from this torture and humiliation. This is how Peter could be
crucified while Paul had to be beheaded.”

1.2.2.I would
add that Cicero, the ancient Roman author and orator, said, “Let
the very name of the cross be far away from Roman citizens, not from their
bodies only, but from their thoughts, their eyes and their ears.”Yet, crucifixion is the type of death that
Jesus Christ had to die in order for Him to be able to adequately pay the debt
of our sins.

1.2.3.As was
mentioned, previously we concentrated upon Pontius Pilate as being a man who
had a chance to make a difference because he knew that Jesus was an innocent
man not deserving punishment, yet he was a man who was not willing to make a
stand for Jesus or for the truth.But in
this study, I want to concentrate for a moment on looking a Pontius Pilate from
the perspective of God’s sovereignty verses man’s free will.

1.2.3.1.The scripture is clear that concerning every detail of
the events that occurred when Jesus Christ was crucified that God was pulling the
strings from the background and bringing about exactly what He planned before
creation would occur:

1.2.3.1.1.Acts 2:23 speaks of the events that occurred on this
day when Jesus Christ was crucified as all happening according to God’s
predetermined plans, “23 this Man,
delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed
to a cross by the hands of godless men and put Him to death.”

1.2.3.1.2.Acts 4:27-28
includes the actions of Pilate on this day as all working according to God’s
predestined plan, “27 “For
truly in this city there were gathered together against Your holy servant
Jesus, whom You anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the
Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, 28 to do whatever Your hand and Your purpose predestined to occur.”

1.2.3.2.The scripture also shows us that even though Pontius
Pilate was fulfilling God’s predetermined plan in having Jesus tortured,
punished and crucified, that none the less the Lord held Pilate responsible for
his actions in all that he did on this day:

1.2.3.2.1.Pilate had many warnings and signals given to him by
the Lord that what he was doing was wrong, yet he chose to ignore them all
instead of act upon them:

1.2.3.2.1.1.In John 18:37 Jesus told Pilate that indeed He had
come into this world to be a king, and that everyone who is of the truth hears
Him, “37 Therefore
Pilate said to Him, “So You are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say correctly that I am a king. For this I have
been born, and for this I have come into the world, to testify to the truth.
Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.””

1.2.3.2.1.2.Several times Pilate revealed that his own conscience
had persuaded him that Jesus had done nothing wrong or deserving of death.

1.2.3.2.1.3.Pilate’s wife was warned in a dream that Pilate was to
leave that righteous man, Jesus, alone (Matt. 27:19).

1.2.3.2.1.4.In John 19:11, Jesus tells Pilate that what he was
doing was sin but that the one who had delivered Jesus to him had the greater
sin, “11 Jesus
answered, “You would have no authority over Me, unless
it had been given you from above; for this reason he who delivered Me to you
has the greater sin.””

1.2.3.3.So, even though the Lord does include evil men and
events in His predetermined plan for mankind, none the less each of us as
people are held completely responsible for our own actions in carrying out
whatever evil deeds we do.This occurs
because man is “a free moral agent” and has a “free will” and
this also chooses.In our finite minds
the sovereignty of God in choosing and predetermining yet man also having a
free will do not seem possible yet this is what we see happening and being
taught in the scriptures.

1.2.3.4.Again we see the sovereignty of God and the free will
of man often in prophesies given concerning what men will do (example Peter you
will deny me three times today), yet we see God also warning and exhorting the
same men ahead of time about what they will do (example Peter again).

1.2.4.Lets look
at Pontius Pilate from one more perspective.Arthur Pink quotes Mr. Geo. Brown speaking about how that Pontius
Pilate’s mistake was that he was trying to compromise and live in two worlds,
though he wanted to do what was right from his conscience he also wanted to
please the world (the Jews) and not offend them, however doing both is always
an impossibility, “Here is the anticipative result of Pilate’s
vacillation.When a man begins to
temporize with his conscience, to trifle with sin—be it the love of applause,
the fear of man, or whatsoever thing is contrary to sound doctrine and plain
morality—it is easy to predict what is sure to follow.Sin is at the first like a tiny spark.Tread it out at once—that is your duty.But indulge, foster, toy with it, and it will
kindle and spread, and lay waste in a fearful conflagration the very temple of
the soul.So here with this unhappy
Pilate, trying to join together what God hath forever put asunder—his carnal
inclination and his duty;hoping all in
vain to harmonize equity and injustice;to comply with the voice of wicked men without, and yet not offend the
voice of God within him;thinking to
serve to masters—God and mammon.Miserable, impossible compromise.”Jesus taught that it is impossible to serve two masters for you will
eventually hold to the one and despise the other (Matt. 6:24, Luke 16:13).

2.VS
19:1- “Then Pilate therefore took Jesus, and scourged Him.”
-John tells us that after trying Jesus
that Pilate now has Jesus scourged

2.1.Pilate did a most horrible thing.The callousness and cruelty of this man are
seen in his having Jesus, a man that he has determined is innocent, receive a
scourging.

2.2.Pilate had Jesus scourged thinking that the Jews might
then have pity upon Jesus and give up their resolve to see Him killed if he did
so.Again we see the pragmatic approach
to life which characterized Pilate instead of a commitment to living according
to “truth.”

2.3.In Mark
10:33-34, Jesus prophesied these events before they occurred saying that he
would be spit on, scourged, and killed by the chief priests and scribes, “33 saying, “Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be delivered
to the chief priests and the scribes; and they will condemn Him to death and
will hand Him over to the Gentiles.34 “They will mock Him and spit on Him, and
scourge Him and kill Him, and three days later He will rise again.””See also Luke’s account, Luke 18:33, of this
prophesy by Jesus.

2.4.The scourging whip was typically made of many leather
straps with lead balls or pieces of bone on them.With each lash the lead or bone would dig
into the flesh and rip out pieces of skin, muscle, ligament, tendon, bone,
veins, arteries, and organs.Many strong
men would die after a scourging.Jesus
received 39 lashes because this was the maximum number allowed since it was
common for a person to die having received more than thirty-nine.In Deut. 25:3 the law forbid giving any man
more than 40 lashes.Paul writes in 2
Cor. 11:24 that five times he received 39 lashes by the Jews.

2.5.Demonstrating further cruelty, Pilate has Jesus’
scourging carried out by Roman soldiers who would be especially cruel.

3.VS
19:2-5- “And the soldiers wove a crown of thorns
and put it on His head, and arrayed Him in a purple robe;and they began
to come up to Him, and say, ‘Hail, King of the Jews!’ and to give Him blows in the face.And Pilate came out again, and said to them,
‘Behold, I am bringing Him out to you, that you may know that I find no guilt
in Him’.Jesus therefore came out
wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe.And Pilate
said to them, ‘Behold, the Man!’” -The soldiers
with Pilate wove a crown of thorns and put it on Jesus’ head and arrayed Him in
a purple robe and began coming up to Him and punching Him in the face, Pilate
came out again bringing Jesus and said to the Jews that he found no guilt in
Jesus, then looking at Jesus said, “Behold the Man!”

3.1.John does not include in his gospel account what Luke
includes about Pilate sending Jesus to Herod before Pilate scourged Him.Pilate and Herod, though both Roman
governors, did not care for each other to this point.However, the crucifixion of Jesus caused them
to agree about something and from that point on to become good friends.

3.2.Herod interrogated Jesus and then dressed Him in a
beautiful robe and sent Him back to Pilate.This is probably the same robe that John describes as being purple and
having been placed upon Jesus by some Roman soldiers.

3.3.Again, I
mention the incredible cruelty of these Roman soldiers whom Pilate allowed to
do what they wanted to do in punishing Jesus.These Roman soldiers wove a crown of thorns and placed
it upon Jesus head as a crown, since He had claimed to be a king.The three to four inch thorns in this crown
dug deep into Jesus’ scalp and were very painful.

3.4.Likewise, another gospel writer includes that they
also placed in Jesus’ hand a reed for a king’s scepter.

3.5.In Genesis
3:17-18 we read that after mankind fell into sin that the Lord cursed the
ground because of this so that it would bear thorns and thistles making a man
sweat growing and tilling crops on the earth, therefore now as Jesus is taking
the curse for mankind it was fitting that a crown of thorns be woven and placed
on his head which He will wear as He is led to be crucified.

3.6.Likewise, in Isaiah 1:18 the prophet wrote about how
that though our sins are as scarlet that they shall be as white as snow,
therefore it was appropriate that as Jesus is bearing our sins on this day that
He should be wrapped in a robe that is scarlet (our text translates this word
as being ‘purple’).

3.7.Now in contempt and mocking the soldiers began to come
up to Jesus and give Him blows in the face as they said, ‘Hail, King of the
Jews!’Little did these soldiers
know that by their mocking and blows Jesus was earning His Kingdom and soon He
was to begin to reign upon the throne He had held from all eternity.

3.8.Declaring, ‘Behold the man,’ Pilate again tries
to cause the Jews to have sympathy for this man who had been viciously
bludgeoned and allow Him to go free, yet again he underestimates their resolve to
have Him crucified.We see that Pilate
acts pragmatically instead of in favor of “truth,” for Jesus deserved
none of this treatment and it was in Pilate’s power to stop this at any time.

3.9.I think we have to see in Pilate’s declaration of ‘Behold
the man!” that he was in awe of how Jesus carried Himself and endured these
cruelties, pain, and shame.Pilate could
have said, “Behold this man” but I think his choice of ‘the man’
indicates his awe of Jesus.Truly,
Pilate must have known in his heart throughout this day that the One before him
was unlike any man.

4.VS
19:6- “When therefore the chief priests and the officers saw Him, they
cried out, saying, ‘Crucify, crucify!’Pilate said to them, ‘Take Him yourselves, and crucify Him, for I find
no guilt in Him’.” -When the
chief priests and officers see Jesus they cry out to crucify Him, but Pilate
tells them to take Him themselves and crucify Him for he found no guilt in
Jesus

4.1.The blood
thirstiness and cruelty of the Jewish leaders in having no pity or compassion
on Jesus at this moment is beyond belief.However, history has shown over and over again that the cruelest acts
have been performed by the highest church leaders and in the Name of God.

4.2.Pilate taunts this crowd of Jewish leaders to go ahead
and in violation of Roman law crucify Jesus.These Jews knew that if they went and crucified Jesus, or performed any
capital punishment upon a person without Rome’s
approval that they would break Roman law and suffer the legal consequences.

4.3.Pilate again
tells these Jewish leaders he finds no guilt in Jesus (note:even after he has had Jesus scourged and
beaten brutally by his soldiers).

4.4.At this point Pilate could have driven the Jews away
with soldiers or even grabbed a whip and chased them off, however he has not
the moral resolve within him to do what he knows is right and just concerning
Jesus.

5.VS
19:7-10- “The Jews answered him, ‘We have a law,
and by that law He ought to die because He made Himself out to be the Son of God’.When Pilate therefore heard this statement,
he was the more afraid;and he entered
into the Praetorium again, and said to Jesus, ‘Where are You from?’But Jesus gave him no answer.Pilate therefore said to Him, ‘You do not
speak to me?Do You not know that I have
authority to release You, and I have authority to crucify You?’Jesus answered, ‘You would have no authority
over Me, unless it had been given you from above;for this reason he who delivered Me up to you
has the greater sin’.”
-The Jews respond back to Pilate that
they have a law and that by their law that Jesus ought to die for He had made
Himself out to be the Son of God, when Pilate heard this he was more afraid and
came back into the Praetorium again and queried Jesus about who He was, but
Jesus gave Pilate no answer causing Pilate to ask Him if He did not realize the
fact that Pilate had the authority to release Him

5.1.Pilate is a man that is being pulled in many
directions.As we mentioned, another
gospel writer records that Pilate’s wife sent a note to him at this time saying
that he should have nothing to do with this righteous man Jesus because she had
had a bad dream about Him.

5.2.In these verses Pilate begins to become a bit
superstitious and fearful about allowing the Jews to crucify Jesus since the
Jews tell him that Jesus claimed to be ‘the Son of God.’Pilate is pondering whether or not these
things might be true after all, and whether or not he might be making a huge
mistake by crucifying a man who came from heaven and was the Son of God.

5.3.Pilate asks concerning Jesus true origin in verse
9.Pilate does and he doesn’t want to
know whether or not Jesus is in fact the Son of God as He claims.He is curious but he is not curious enough to
really know the truth concerning Jesus.

5.4.We could
ask the question of why Jesus does not answer Pilate’s question about where He
is from?Does not Jesus want to tell His
secret about being the eternal Son of God from eternity come to earth through
virgin birth in order to pay the debt of man’s sins?Why would He hold back this knowledge now
since at this point He had nothing to lose?I would say first of all that Pilate did not deserve to know the truth.At this point Jesus had already told Pilate
that His kingdom was not of this world and that He had been born to be a
king.However, Pilate had not believed
Jesus’ words then, so he would not believe them now.Pilate would not act upon this truth now so
to tell him more truth would have been to cast pearls before swine, which God’s
people are not to do (Matt. 7:6).

5.5.Jesus silence is unnerving and perplexing to
Pilate.In astonishment and prideful
arrogance he asks Jesus about why He does not try to justify Himself or somehow
obtain His release.However, Jesus’
weapons are not those of the flesh, and so He does not try to manipulate His
circumstances to try to have Himself acquitted or released (which He could
easily have done on this day).Plus, on
this day Jesus was willingly laying down His life for mankind not defending
Himself.

5.6.On this day there are two kingdoms in conflict.On the one hand, Pilate represents the
authority and rulership of man upon earth, and on the other Jesus is the King
of the eternal realm.

5.7.Pilate tells Jesus in essence that He ought to wise up
and realize that he has the power to release or to crucify Him, and therefore
it would be wise for Him to try to speak up in order to obtain His
release.However, Jesus tells Pilate
that heaven’s authority (which would be Jesus’ authority) is over and above
his, and that Pilate would not be in a position of authority unless heaven had
decreed it so.

5.8.Then, Jesus tells Pilate that as a result of authority
being given to Pilate from Jehovah, that he has a responsibility for which he
will be held accountable one day.However, Jesus also tells Pilate that there is greater sin incurred in
Annas delivering Jesus up to Pilate than in Pilate’s actions himself.Because of this statement Pilate tries to
release Jesus without any further cruelty to Him.

5.9.It is interesting here how as we mentioned that the
Lord put Pilate’s wife in his life in order to try to save him from himself in
making this horrible decision to have Jesus scourged and crucified.God’s mercy is seen in giving this dream to Pilate’s
wife and then inspiring her at this time to warn him not to have anything to do
with this ‘righteous’ man Jesus.However, Pilate was not sensitive enough to the pangs of his conscience
in order to realize how foolish and senseless it was to put to death a ‘righteous’
man, especially one who was the only begotten Son of God.

6.VS
19:12-15- “As a result of this Pilate made efforts
to release Him, but the Jews cried out, saying, ‘If you release this Man, you
are no friend of Caesar;everyone who
makes himself out to be a king opposes Caesar’.When Pilate therefore heard these words, he brought Jesus out, and sat
down on the judgment seat at a place called The Pavement, but in Hebrew,
Gabatha.Now it was the day of
preparation for the Passover;it was
about the sixth hour.And he said to the
Jews, ‘Behold, your King!’They
therefore cried out, ‘Away with Him, away with Him, crucify Him!’Pilate said to them, ‘Shall I crucify your
King?’The chief priests answered, ‘We
have no king but Caesar’.” -Pilate tries
to dismiss the charges against Jesus and release Him however now the Jews began
to yell out to him and argue with him that Jesus is not their king for that
they have no king but Caesar

6.1.Pilate tries several times to obtain the release of
Jesus, however the resolve of this Jewish mob to kill Jesus was such that he
finally gave in to this horrible crime and injustice hoping to be able to
justify his actions by washing his hands of the matter, however in his
conscience he knew he could have stopped Jesus’ undeserved trial and punishment
had he the resolve to act upon the “truth.”Rather than risk a riot Pilate violates his
own conscience and agrees to the Jew’s demand to have Jesus crucified.

6.2.Another gospel writer records that before Pilate had Jesus
scourged that he actually washed his hands in water before the Jews and then
told them to do what they were determined to do in crucifying Him.

6.3.The crowd finally persuades Pilate to allow them to
crucify Jesus by fueling his fears that he might be found to have helped an
insurrection that might follow if he allows Jesus to be released.These Jews accuse Pilate of treason by saying
that he is no friend of Caesars if he allows a man to go free if he claims to
be a king since there is no king by Caesar.Pilate knew that they could betray him to Caesar for letting Jesus, a
man who claimed to be king, go free, and then he could end up losing both his
governorship and perhaps even his own head.

6.4.The crowd compromises their faith in Jehovah as their
king as a matter of convenience by prodding Pilate to crucify Jesus as a
patriotic act since Jesus claimed to be a king and any Roman had only one king,
“Caesar.”Revealing their hearts
and compromising their faith in Jehovah these Jewish leaders claim that they
have only one king, “Caesar.”

6.5.Out of fear and convenience, Pilate allows Jesus to be
crucified.

6.6.Arthur
Pink has written about how on this day history was repeating itself for the
Jews for this was the second time in their history that they had requested a
king other than the Lord to reign over them, each time experiencing tragic
consequences, ““The chief priests answered, We have no king but Caesar.” God
took them at their word:they have been
under their own verdict ever since.History repeated itself, though with a tragic addition.In the days of Samuel, Israel
said, “Make us a king to judge us like all nations” (1 Sam. 8:5), and Jehovah’s
response was, “Hearken unto the voice of the people in all that they say unto
thee:for they have not rejected thee,
but they have rejected me, that I
should not reign over them.”So it was here with their rebellious
descendants, when they rejected Christ the king.In consequence of their fatal decision, Israel
has abode “many days without a king,
and without a prince, and without a sacrifice” (Hosea 3:4).Bitter indeed have been the consequences.”

6.7.We Christians ought to realize that we can never wash
our hands of our responsibility to always act upon the basis of the “truth.”There is no one whom we should blame for our
actions, and the moral decisions we make.We also can’t rightly claim that the Devil made us do anything!

7.VS 19:16-17- “So
he then delivered Him to them to be crucified.They took Jesus therefore, and He went out, bearing His own cross, to
the place called the place of a Skull, which is called in Hebrew Golgotha.” – John tells us that Pilate delivered Jesus to be
crucified and that Jesus went out bearing His own cross to a placed called the
place of a Skill, or Golgatha in Hebrew

7.1.Notice
here that Jesus was “led” to be crucified and went willingly.He wasn’t dragged or forced.This Jesus did in fulfillment of Israel
53:7, “7 He was
oppressed and He was afflicted, Yet He did not open His mouth; Like a lamb that
is led to slaughter, And like a sheep that is silent before its shearers, So He
did not open His mouth.”

7.2.Pilate then delivered Jesus to be crucified at the
hands of Roman soldiers.Crucifixion was
a horrible punishment for anyone to endure.Crucifixion would not immediately kill its victim, rather he would be
caused to hang in agony for a long period of time.Some victims would last three days or longer
on the cross, finally to die from thirst, starvation or asphyxiation.

7.3.Jesus’ injuries were such that He could not have hung
long on a cross without dying unless God’s miraculous power intervened on His
behalf as He yield up His Spirit to the Father.

7.4.Only the worst of criminals who had committed heinous
murder or vicious treason would be killed by crucifixion.With hatred of the Jews and their insolence
and fear of being accused of treason, Pilate chose to crucify the One who
claimed to be the “King of the Jews.”

7.5.An Old
Testament type was fulfilled in this day with Jesus’ crucifixion.In Leviticus chapter 16, the Lord gave to
Moses and Aaron the instructions for how the sins of the nation were to be
atoned for annually by sacrificing a goat and then taking some of the blood
inside the veil to the Holy of Holies and pouring it onto the Mercy Seat of the
Ark of the Covenant, however Lev. 16:27 tells us that the animal then had to be
taken outside of the camp and be burned, “27 “But the bull of the sin offering and the goat of the sin
offering, whose blood was brought in to make atonement in the holy place, shall
be taken outside the camp, and they shall burn their hides, their flesh, and
their refuse in the fire.”The writer of
the book of Hebrews explains in Heb. 13:12 that this type was fulfilled in
Jesus Christ on this day, “12 Therefore
Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people through His own blood, suffered
outside the gate.”

7.6.This verse also indicates that Jesus originally was
forced to begin carrying His own cross to the place of crucifixion, but as the other
gospel writers tells us, Simon the Cyrene eventually had to carry the cross for
Jesus because He was too exhausted and weak to carry it all the way Himself.

7.7.There was yet another Old Testament type that was
fulfilled on this day by Jesus.In the
book of Genesis, chapter 22, we read of the testing of Abraham after the Lord
had finally is his old age given him in Isaac the son of promise, that he was
commanded by the Lord to take his son and to sacrifice him to the Lord.In obedience then Abraham took Isaac up to a
mountain to sacrifice him and we read in Gen. 22:6 how that Isaac had to carry
the wood for the fire himself upon which he was to be sacrificed by his father,
“6 Abraham took the wood of
the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son, and he took in his hand the
fire and the knife. So the two of them walked on together.”In the same
way, our heavenly Father was sacrificing His only begotten Son to be crucified
upon Calvary’s cross to pay the debt of mankind’s sin, and Jesus had to carry
His own cross.

7.7.1.John does not detail very graphically nor specifically
the depth of the suffering and humiliation Jesus went through on this day,
though the other gospel writers give us more of these details.In our next study, I will present the medical
aspects of what Jesus went through in being crucified on this day since several
medical doctors have now written about that.

7.8.In order to publicly humiliate Jesus, He was forced to
carry His cross right through the streets of Jerusalem which were then bustling from all
of the Jews who had gathered there to celebrate the Passover.Today we in America
translate the name of the hill where Jesus was crucified, “Calvary.”Did you ever realize that the name of this
church is “Skull Chapel Green Bay” ?

7.9.David Terasaka, an MD, writes the following about
Jesus carrying His cross on this day:

From the
beating, Jesus walked on a path, now known as the Via Dolorosa or the "way
of suffering", to be crucified at Golgotha.
The total distance has been estimated at 650 yards. (Edwards). A narrow street
of stone, it was probably surrounded by markets in Jesus' time. He was led
through the crowded streets carrying the crossbar of the cross (called a
patibulum) across His shoulders. The crossbar probably weighed between 80 to
110 pounds. He was surrounded by a guard of Roman soldiers, one of which
carried a titulus, a sign which announced His crime of being "the King
of the Jews" in Hebrew, Latin and Greek. On the way, He was unable to
carry the cross. Some theorize that he may have fallen while going down the
steps of the Antonio Fortress. A fall with the heavy patibulum on His back may
have led to a contusion of the heart, predisposing His heart to rupture on the
cross. (Ball) Simon of Cyrene (currently North Africa (Tripoli)), who apparently was affected by
these events, was summoned to help.

The present
Via Dolorosa was marked in the 16th century as the route over which Christ was
led to His crucifixion (Magi). As is the location of Calvary,
the true location of the Via Dolorosa is disputed. Much tradition as to what
happened to Jesus is encountered on the Via Dolorosa today. There are 14
stations of 'events' that occurred and 9 churches on the way today. The
stations of the cross were established in the 1800's (Magi). Today, there is
one section of the path where one can walk on the stones which were used during
Jesus time.

8.VS 19:18-22- “There
they crucified Him, and with Him two other men, one on either side, and Jesus
in between.And Pilate wrote an
inscription also, and put it on the cross.And it was written, “Jesus the Nazarene, the King of the Jews”.Therefore this inscription many of the Jews
read, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city;and it was written in Hebrew, Latin, and
Greek.And so the chief priests of the
Jews were saying to Pilate, ‘Do not write, “The King of the Jews”;but that He said, ‘I am King of the
Jews’.Pilate answered, ‘What I have
written I have written’.” -John tells us
that they crucified Jesus in between two men and that Pilate forced those who
crucified Jesus to write on His cross, “Jesus the Nazarene, the King of the
Jews”

8.1.Jesus’
being crucified in between two thieves fulfilled these two Messianic prophesies
of the Old Testament:

8.1.1.Isaiah 53:12, “12 Therefore, I will allot Him a portion with the great, And
He will divide the booty with the strong; Because He poured out Himself to
death, And was numbered with the transgressors; Yet He Himself bore the sin of
many, And interceded for the transgressors.”

8.1.2.Psalm 22:16, “16 For dogs have surrounded me; A band of evildoers has
encompassed me; They pierced my hands and my feet.”

8.2.Jesus was crucified in the most public manner
possible.He was crucified on a hill right
on the main road into Jerusalem upon which most
travelers would pass as they journeyed to Jerusalem
to celebrate the Passover.

8.3.The inscription placed upon the cross was written in
three languages which would mean that virtually every person who would travel
to Jerusalem
could read it in a language which he knew, and these three languages covered
all areas of life and culture:

8.3.1.“Koine Greek” was the language of all the
world, and virtually everyone would know this language.

8.3.2.The “Latin” language was the language of
government and of Rome
which ruled the world.

8.3.3.Finally, most Jews, if not all, would know “Hebrew”
as it is their native language even if they presently lived in a foreign
country.

8.4.Arthur
Pink writes the following about this title being written about Jesus in these
three languages, “Hebrew was the language of religion;Greek of science, culture and philosoply;Latin of law.In each of these realms Christ is
“king.”In the religious, He is the
final revelation of the true God (Heb. 1:2;John 14:9).In science, He is the
Force behind all things. “By Him all things consist” (Col. 1:17).“Upholding all things by the word of his
power” (Heb. 1:3);so, too, in Him are
hid “all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (Col. 2:3).In jurisprudence, He is supreme;the Law-giver and Law-administrator (1 Cor.
9:21).”

8.5.Also, with Jesus crucified in the middle in between
the two thieves, attention would be drawn to Him.All that Pilate did to draw attention to
Jesus, God used for promoting the gospel.Though Pilate had hoped to humiliate and squelch any insubordination of
the Jews by publicly crucifying their “King,” as a result of Jesus being
a public spectacle many of the masses were later converted after Jesus raised
from the dead.

8.6.John doesn’t include in his gospel what the other
gospel writers say of the taunting of Jesus upon the cross that came from the
Roman soldiers, the chief priests, and even the thieves crucified next to
Him.These men mocked Jesus and His
claims, and the chief priests even told Him to come down from the cross and
then they would believe in Him.Some
said, “He saved others, but He can’t save Himself.”

8.7.Another gospel writer includes thatone of the thieves on the cross finally was
moved by Jesus’ attitude and countenance, realizing that Jesus was innocent of
the charges for which He was dying (unlike himself), and he tells the other
thief to stop his taunting.Then the
thief asked Jesus to remember him when He entered His kingdom.Jesus responded to this thief that that very
day he would be with Him in paradise.

9.CONCLUSIONS:

9.1.We must
realize that though the Lord may know and even have predetermined what we will
do in our life, that none the less the Lord holds us responsible for every choice
and decision we make in our life.

9.2.We need to
learn from Pilate that you can’t sit on the fence and try to live for the Lord
while also live like the world.You
cannot serve God and mammon.You must
choose either one or the other.If you
try to sit on the fence one day you will fall head over heels into sin and you
may never get out of that life of sin, only to spend an eternity in hell (the
lake of fire in Rev. 20).

9.3.Our hearts
should be broken and our love won as we consider that all that Jesus was going
through on this day was because of how greatly He loved us.